Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek (/ˈtʃæŋ kaɪˈʃɛk, ˈdʒjɑːŋ/;[3] 31 October
1887 – 5 April 1975), also romanized as Chiang Chieh-shih and known
as Chiang Chungcheng, was a political and military leader who served
as the leader of the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China between 1928 and 1975.
Chiang was an influential member of the
KuomintangKuomintang (KMT), the Chinese
Nationalist Party, as well as a close ally of Sun Yat-sen's. Chiang
became the
Commandant of the Kuomintang's
Whampoa Military AcademyWhampoa Military Academy and
took Sun's place as leader of the
KMTKMT following the
Canton CoupCanton Coup in
early 1926. Having neutralized the party's left wing, Chiang then led
Sun's long-postponed Northern Expedition, conquering or reaching
accommodations with China's many warlords.[4]
From 1928 to 1948, Chiang served as chairman of the National Military
Council of the
Nationalist GovernmentNationalist Government of the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China (ROC).
Chiang was socially conservative, promoting traditional Chinese
culture in the
New Life MovementNew Life Movement and rejecting both western democracy
and Sun's nationalist democratic socialism in favour of an
authoritarian government.[citation needed] Unable to maintain Sun's
good relations with the communists, Chiang purged them in a massacre
at Shanghai and repression of uprisings at Kwangtung and elsewhere.
At the onset of the Second Sino-Japanese War, which later became the
Chinese theater of World War II,
Zhang XueliangZhang Xueliang kidnapped Chiang and
obliged him to establish a
Second United FrontSecond United Front with the communists.
After the defeat of the Japanese, the American-sponsored Marshall
Mission, an attempt to negotiate a coalition government, failed in
1946. The
Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil War resumed, with the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) led by
Mao ZedongMao Zedong defeating the Nationalists and declaring the
People's
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China in 1949. Chiang's government and army
retreated to Taiwan, where Chiang imposed martial law and persecuted
critics in a period known as the "White Terror". After evacuating to
Taiwan, Chiang's government continued to declare its intention to
retake mainland China. Chiang ruled
TaiwanTaiwan securely as President of
the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China and General of the
KuomintangKuomintang until his death in
1975, just one year short of Mao's death.[5]
Like Mao, Chiang is regarded as a controversial figure: supporters
credit him with playing a major part in unifying the nation and a
national figure of the Chinese resistance against Japan and the Allied
victory of the Second World War, as well as his staunch anti-Soviet
and anti-communist stance; detractors and critics denounce him as a
dictator at the front of an authoritarian autocracy who suppressed and
purged opponents and critics and arbitrarily incarcerated those he
deemed as opposing to the
KuomintangKuomintang among others.

Names[edit]
Like many other Chinese historical figures, Chiang used several names
throughout his life. That inscribed in the genealogical records of his
family is Jiang Zhoutai (Chinese: 蔣周泰; Wade–Giles: Chiang
Chou-t‘ai). This so-called "register name" (譜名) is the one under
which his extended relatives knew him, and the one he used in formal
occasions, such as when he got married. In deference to tradition,
family members did not use the register name in conversation with
people outside of the family. The concept of a "real" or original name
is not as clear-cut in
ChinaChina as it is in the Western world.
In honor of tradition, Chinese families waited a number of years
before officially naming their offspring. In the meantime, they used a
"milk name" (乳名), given to the infant shortly after his birth and
known only to the close family, thus the actual name that Chiang
received at birth was Jiang Ruiyuan (Chinese: 蔣瑞元; Wade–Giles:
Chiang Jui-yuan).
In 1903, the 16-year-old Chiang went to
NingboNingbo to be a student, and he
chose a "school name" (學名). This was actually the formal name of a
person, used by older people to address him, and the one he would use
the most in the first decades of his life (as the person grew older,
younger generations would have to use one of the courtesy names
instead). Colloquially, the school name is called "big name" (大名),
whereas the "milk name" is known as the "small name" (小名). The
school name that Chiang chose for himself was Zhiqing (Chinese:
志清; Wade–Giles: Chi-ch‘ing, which means "purity of
intentions"). For the next fifteen years or so, Chiang was known as
Jiang Zhiqing (Wade-Giles: Chiang Chi-ch‘ing). This is the name
under which
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen knew him when Chiang joined the republicans in
Kwangtung in the 1910s.
In 1912, when Jiang Zhiqing was in Japan, he started to use the name
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek (Chinese: 蔣介石; Pinyin: Jiang
Jieshi (help·info); Wade-Giles: Chiang Chieh-shih) as a pen name
for the articles that he published in a Chinese magazine he founded:
Voice of the Army (Chinese: 軍聲). Jieshi is the
PinyinPinyin romanization
of this name, based on Mandarin, but the most recognized romanized
rendering is Kai-shek which is in
CantoneseCantonese romanization. As the
republicans were based in Canton (a
CantoneseCantonese speaking area, now
commonly known as
GuangdongGuangdong province), Chiang became known by
Westerners under the
CantoneseCantonese romanization of his courtesy name,
while the family name as known in English seems to be the Mandarin
pronunciation of his Chinese family name, transliterated in
Wade-Giles.
"Kai-shek"/"Jieshi" soon became Chiang's courtesy name (字). Some
think the name was chosen from the classic Chinese book the I Ching;
"介于石", "[he who is] firm as a rock", is the beginning of line 2
of Hexagram 16, "豫". Others note that the first character of his
courtesy name is also the first character of the courtesy name of his
brother and other male relatives on the same generation line, while
the second character of his courtesy name shi (石—meaning "stone")
suggests the second character of his "register name" tai (泰—the
famous
Mount TaiMount Tai of China). Courtesy names in
ChinaChina often bore a
connection with the personal name of the person. As the courtesy name
is the name used by people of the same generation to address the
person, Chiang soon became known under this new name.
Sometime in 1917 or 1918, as Chiang became close to Sun Yat-sen, he
changed his name from Jiang Zhiqing to Jiang Zhongzheng (Chinese:
蔣中正; Wade–Giles: Chiang Chung-cheng). By adopting the name
Chung-cheng ("central uprightness"), he was choosing a name very
similar to the name of Sun Yat-sen, who was (and still is) known among
Chinese as Zhongshan (中山—meaning "central mountain"), thus
establishing a link between the two. The meaning of uprightness,
rectitude, or orthodoxy, implied by his name, also positioned him as
the legitimate heir of
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen and his ideas. Not surprisingly,
the Chinese Communists always rejected the use of this name and it is
not well known in mainland China. However, it was readily accepted by
members of the Chinese Nationalist Party and is the name under which
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek is still commonly known in Taiwan. Often the name is
shortened to "Chung-cheng" only ("Zhongzheng" in Pinyin). Many public
places in
TaiwanTaiwan are named
Chungcheng after Chiang. For many years
passengers arriving at the
Chiang Kai-shek International AirportChiang Kai-shek International Airport were
greeted by signs in Chinese welcoming them to the "Chung Cheng
International Airport". Similarly, the monument erected to Chiang's
memory in Taipei, known in English as
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall,
was literally named "Chung Cheng Memorial Hall" in Chinese. In
Singapore, Chung Cheng High School was named after him.
His name is also written in
TaiwanTaiwan as "The Late President Lord Chiang"
(先總統 蔣公), where the one-character-wide space known as nuo
tai shows respect, but this practice has lost some popularity.
However, he is still known as Lord Chiang (蔣公) (without the title
or space), along with the name Chiang Chung-cheng, in Taiwan.
Childhood[edit]
Chiang was born in Xikou, a town in Fenghua, Zhejiang, about 30
kilometers (19 mi) of central Ningbo. His family's ancestral
home—a concept important in Chinese society—was Heqiao
(和橋鎮), a town in Yixing, Jiangsu, about 38 km (24 mi)
southwest of central
WuxiWuxi and 10 km (6.2 mi) from the shores
of Lake Tai. His father Jiang Zhaocong (蔣肇聰) and mother Wang
Caiyu (王采玉) were members of a prosperous family of salt
merchants. Chiang lost his father when he was eight, and he wrote of
his mother as the "embodiment of Confucian virtues".The young Chiang
was inspired throughout his youth by the realisation that the
reputation of an honored family rested upon his shoulders. He was a
mischievous child, at only three years old he thrust a pair of
chopsticks down his throat to see how far they would reach. They
became stuck and were removed with great difficulty. Even at a young
age he was interested in war, and directed mimic campaigns with a
wooden sword and spear. As he grew older, Chiang became more aware of
the issues that surrounded him and in his speech to the
KuomintangKuomintang in
1945 said:

As you all know I was an orphan boy in a poor family. Deprived of any
protection after the death of her husband, my mother was exposed to
the most ruthless exploitation by neighbouring ruffians and the local
gentry. The efforts she made in fighting against the intrigues of
these family intruders certainly endowed her child, brought up in such
environment, with an indomitable spirit to fight for justice. I felt
throughout my childhood that mother and I were fighting a helpless
lone war. We were alone in a desert, no available or possible
assistance could we look forward to. But our determination was never
shaken, nor hope abandoned.[6]

Education in Japan[edit]
Chiang grew up at a time in which military defeats, natural disasters,
revolts, and the machinations of the empress dowager Cixi had left the
Manchu-dominated
Qing EmpireQing Empire destabilized and in debt. Successive
demands of the
Western powersWestern powers and Japan since the Opium War had left
ChinaChina owing millions of taels of silver. He decided to pursue a
military career. He began his military training at the Baoding
Military Academy in 1906, the same year Japan left its bimetallic
currency standard, devaluing its yen. He left for Tokyo Shinbu Gakko,
a preparatory school for the
Imperial Japanese Army AcademyImperial Japanese Army Academy intended
for Chinese students, in 1907. There, he came under the influence of
compatriots to support the revolutionary movement to overthrow the
Qing and to set up a Han-dominated Chinese republic. He befriended
fellow Zhejiangese Chen Qimei, and in 1908 Chen brought Chiang into
the Tongmenghui, an important revolutionary brotherhood of the era.
Finishing his schooling, Chiang served in the Imperial Japanese Army
from 1909 to 1911.
Return to China[edit]
After learning of the outbreak (October 1911) of the Wuchang Uprising,
Chiang returned to
ChinaChina in 1911, intending to fight as an artillery
officer. He served in the revolutionary forces, leading a regiment in
Shanghai under his friend and mentor Chen Qimei, as one of Chen's
chief lieutenants. In early 1912 a dispute arose between Chen and Tao
Chen-chang, an influential member of the Revolutionary Alliance who
opposed both
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen and Chen. Tao sought to avoid escalating the
quarrel by hiding in a hospital but Chiang discovered him there. Chen
dispatched assassins. Chiang may not have taken part in the act, but
would later assume responsibility to help Chen avoid trouble. Chen
valued Chiang despite Chiang's already legendary temper, regarding
such bellicosity as useful in a military leader.[7] Alternatively,
Professor Pichon Loh reports that Chiang may have killed Tao in the
hospital with a pistol.[8][need quotation to verify]
Chiang's friendship with
Chen QimeiChen Qimei signaled an association with
Shanghai's criminal syndicate (the
Green Gang headed by Du Yuesheng
and Huang Jinrong). During Chiang's time in Shanghai, the
British-administered
Shanghai International SettlementShanghai International Settlement police watched
him and charged him with various felonies. These charges never
resulted in a trial, and Chiang was never jailed.[9]
Chiang became a founding member of the
KMTKMT after the success (February
1912) of the 1911 Revolution. After the takeover of the Republican
government by
Yuan ShikaiYuan Shikai and the failed Second Revolution in 1913,
Chiang, like his
KMTKMT comrades, divided his time between exile in Japan
and the havens of the Shanghai International Settlement. In Shanghai,
Chiang cultivated ties with the city's underworld gangs, which were
dominated by the notorious
Green Gang and its leader Du Yuesheng. On
18 May 1916, agents of
Yuan ShikaiYuan Shikai assassinated Chen Qimei. Chiang
then succeeded Chen as leader of the
Chinese Revolutionary PartyChinese Revolutionary Party in
Shanghai. Sun Yat-sen's political career reached its lowest point
during this time when most of his old Revolutionary Alliance comrades
refused to join him in the exiled Chinese Revolutionary Party.[10]
Establishment of the Kuomintang[edit]
In 1917,
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen moved his base of operations to Kwangtung (now
known as Guangzhou), and Chiang joined him in 1918. At this time Sun
remained largely sidelined; and, without arms or money, was soon
expelled from Kwangtung and exiled again to Shanghai. He was restored
to Kwangtung with mercenary help in 1920. After returning to
Kwangtung, a rift developed between Sun, who sought to militarily
unify
ChinaChina under the KMT, and
GuangdongGuangdong Governor Chen Jiongming, who
wanted to implement a federalist system with
GuangdongGuangdong as a model
province. On 16 June 1922, Ye Ju, a general of Chen's whom Sun had
attempted to exile, led an assault of Kwangtung's Presidential
Palace.[11] Sun had already fled to the naval yard[12] and boarded the
SS Haiqi,[13] but his wife narrowly evaded shelling and rifle
fire as she fled.[14] They met on the SS Yongfeng, where they were
joined—as swiftly as he could return from Shanghai, where he was
ritually mourning his mother's death—by Chiang.[15] For about 50
days,[16] Chiang stayed with Sun, protecting and caring for him and
earning his lasting trust. They abandoned their attacks on Chen on
August 9, taking a British ship to Hong Kong[15] and traveling to
Shanghai by steamer.[16]
Sun regained control of Kwangtung in early 1923, again with the help
of mercenaries from
YunnanYunnan and from the Comintern. Undertaking a
reform of the KMT, he established a revolutionary government aimed at
unifying
ChinaChina under the KMT. That same year, Sun sent Chiang to spend
three months in Moscow studying the Soviet political and military
system. During his trip in Russia, Chiang met
Leon TrotskyLeon Trotsky and other
Soviet leaders, but quickly came to the conclusion that the Russian
model of government was not suitable for China. Chiang later sent his
eldest son, Ching-kuo, to study in Russia. After his father's split
from the
First United FrontFirst United Front in 1927, Ching-kuo was forced to stay
there, as a hostage, until 1937. Chiang wrote in his diary, "It is not
worth it to sacrifice the interest of the country for the sake of my
son."[17][18] Chiang even refused to negotiate a prisoner swap for his
son in exchange for the
Chinese Communist PartyChinese Communist Party leader.[19] His
attitude remained consistent, and he continued to maintain, by 1937,
that "I would rather have no offspring than sacrifice our nation's
interests." Chiang had absolutely no intention of ceasing the war
against the Communists.[20]
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek returned to Kwangtung and in 1924 was appointed
Commandant of the
Whampoa Military AcademyWhampoa Military Academy by Sun. Chiang resigned
from the office for one month in disagreement with Sun's extremely
close cooperation with the Comintern, but returned at Sun's demand.
The early years at Whampoa allowed Chiang to cultivate a cadre of
young officers loyal to both the
KMTKMT and himself.
Throughout his rise to power, Chiang also benefited from membership
within the nationalist
TiandihuiTiandihui fraternity, to which
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen also
belonged, and which remained a source of support during his leadership
of the Kuomintang.
Competition with Wang Jingwei[edit]
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen died on 12 March 1925,[21] creating a power vacuum in the
Kuomintang. A contest ensued among Wang Jingwei, Liao Zhongkai, and Hu
Hanmin. In August, Liao was assassinated and Hu arrested for his
connections to the murderers. Wang Jingwei, who had succeeded Sun as
chairman of the Kwangtung regime, seemed ascendant but was forced into
exile by Chiang following the Canton Coup. The SS Yongfeng, renamed
the Zhongshan in Sun's honor, had appeared off Changzhou[22]—the
location of the Whampoa Academy—on apparently falsified orders[23]
and amid a series of unusual phone calls trying to ascertain Chiang's
location.[24] He initially considered fleeing Kwangtung and even
booked passage on a Japanese steamer, but then decided to use his
military connections to declare martial law on 20 March 1926, and
crack down on Communist and Soviet influence over the NRA, the
military academy, and the party.[23] The right wing of the party
supported him and Stalin—anxious to maintain Soviet influence in the
area—had his lieutenants agree to Chiang's demands[25] regarding a
reduced Communist presence in the
KMTKMT leadership in exchange for
certain other concessions.[23] The rapid replacement of leadership
enabled Chiang to effectively end civilian oversight of the military
after May 15, though his authority was somewhat limited[25] by the
army's own regional composition and divided loyalties. On 5 June 1926,
he was named commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army[26]
and, on July 27, he finally launched Sun's long-delayed Northern
Expedition, aimed at conquering the northern warlords and bringing
ChinaChina together under the KMT.
The NRA branched into three divisions: to the west was the returned
Wang Jingwei, who led a column to take Wuhan; Bai Chongxi's column
went east to take Shanghai; Chiang himself led in the middle route,
planning to take
NanjingNanjing before pressing ahead to capture Beijing.
However, in January 1927,
Wang JingweiWang Jingwei and his
KMTKMT leftist allies took
the city of
WuhanWuhan amid much popular mobilization and fanfare. Allied
with a number of Chinese Communists and advised by Soviet agent
Mikhail Borodin, Wang declared the National Government as having moved
to Wuhan. Having taken
NanjingNanjing in March (and briefly visited Shanghai,
now under the control of his close ally Bai Chongxi), Chiang halted
his campaign and prepared a violent break with Wang's leftist
elements, which he believed threatened his control of the KMT.
Now with an established national government in Nanjing, and supported
by conservative allies including Hu Hanmin, Chiang's expulsion of the
Communists and their Soviet advisers led to the beginning of the
Chinese Civil War. Wang Jingwei's National Government was weak
militarily, and was soon ended by Chiang with the support of a local
warlord (
Li ZongrenLi Zongren of Guangxi). Eventually, Wang and his leftist
party surrendered to Chiang and joined him in Nanjing. In the Central
Plains War, Beijing was taken on June, 1928, from an alliance of the
warlords
Feng YuxiangFeng Yuxiang and Yan Xishan. In December, the Manchurian
warlord
Zhang XueliangZhang Xueliang pledged allegiance to Chiang's government,
completing Chiang's nominal unification of
ChinaChina and ending the
Warlord Era.
In 1927, when he was setting up the
Nationalist governmentNationalist government in Nanjing,
he was preoccupied with "the elevation of our leader Dr. Sun Yat-sen
to the rank of 'Father of our Chinese Republic'. Dr. Sun worked for 40
years to lead our people in the Nationalist cause, and we cannot allow
any other personality to usurp this honored position". He asked Chen
Guofu to purchase a photograph that had been taken in Japan around
1895 or 1898. It showed members of the Revive
ChinaChina Society with Yeung
Kui-wan (楊衢雲 or 杨衢云, pinyin Yáng Qúyún) as President,
in the place of honor, and Sun, as secretary, on the back row, along
with members of the Japanese Chapter of the Revive
ChinaChina Society. When
told that it was not for sale, Chiang offered a million dollars to
recover the photo and its negative. "The party must have this picture
and the negative at any price. They must be destroyed as soon as
possible. It would be embarrassing to have our Father of the Chinese
Republic shown in a subordinate position".[27] Chiang never obtained
either the photo or its negative.
Chiang made great efforts to gain recognition as the official
successor of Sun Yat-sen. In a pairing of great political
significance, Chiang was Sun's brother-in-law: he had married Soong
Mei-ling, the younger sister of Soong Ching-ling, Sun's widow, on 1
December 1927. Originally rebuffed in the early 1920s, Chiang managed
to ingratiate himself to some degree with Soong Mei-ling's mother by
first divorcing his wife and concubines and promising to sincerely
study the precepts of Christianity. He read the copy of the Bible that
May-ling had given him twice before making up his mind to become a
Christian, and three years after his marriage he was baptized in the
Soong's
MethodistMethodist church. Although some observers felt that he adopted
ChristianityChristianity as a political move, studies of his recently opened
diaries suggest that his faith was strong and sincere and that he felt
that
ChristianityChristianity reinforced Confucian moral teachings.[28]
Upon reaching Beijing, Chiang paid homage to
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen and had his
body moved to the new capital of
NanjingNanjing to be enshrined in a grand
mausoleum.
Rising power[edit]
In the West and in the Soviet Union,
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was known as the
"Red General".[1] Movie theaters in the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union showed newsreels
and clips of Chiang. At Moscow,
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen University portraits of
Chiang were hung on the walls; and, in the Soviet May Day Parades that
year, Chiang's portrait was to be carried along with the portraits of
Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and other Communist
leaders.[29] The
United StatesUnited States consulate and other Westerners in
Shanghai were concerned about the approach of "Red General" Chiang as
his army was seizing control of large areas of the country in the
Northern Expedition.[30][31]
On April 12, Chiang carried out a purge of thousands of suspected
Communists and dissidents in Shanghai, and began large-scale massacres
across the country collectively known as the "White Terror".
Throughout April 1927, more than 12,000 people were killed in
Shanghai. The killings drove most Communists from urban cities and
into the rural countryside, where the
KMTKMT was less powerful.[32] In
the year after April 1927, over 300,000 people died across
ChinaChina in
anti-Communist suppression campaigns, executed by the KMT. One of the
most famous quotes from Chiang (during that time) was that he would
rather mistakenly kill 1,000 innocent people rather than allow one
Communist to escape.[33] Some estimates claim the White Terror in
ChinaChina took millions of lives, most of them in the rural areas. No
concrete number can be verified.[34] Chiang allowed Soviet agent and
advisor
Mikhail Borodin and Soviet general
Vasily BlücherVasily Blücher (Galens)
"escape" to safety after the purge.[35]
Rule[edit]
Main articles:
Northern ExpeditionNorthern Expedition and
Nationalist GovernmentNationalist Government (China)
See also:
Whampoa Military AcademyWhampoa Military Academy and
NanjingNanjing decade
Having gained control of China, Chiang's party remained surrounded by
"surrendered" warlords who remained relatively autonomous within their
own regions. On 10 October 1928, Chiang was named director of the
State Council, the equivalent to President of the country, in addition
to his other titles.[36] As with his predecessor Sun Yat-sen, the
Western media dubbed him "Generalissimo".[26]
According to Sun Yat-sen's plans, the
KuomintangKuomintang (KMT) was to rebuild
ChinaChina in three steps: military rule, political tutelage, and
constitutional rule. The ultimate goal of the
KMTKMT revolution was
democracy, which was not considered to be feasible in China's
fragmented state. Since the
KMTKMT had completed the first step of
revolution through seizure of power in 1928, Chiang's rule thus began
a period of what his party considered to be "political tutelage" in
Sun Yat-sen's name. During this so-called Republican Era, many
features of a modern, functional Chinese state emerged and developed.
The decade of 1928 to 1937 saw some aspects of foreign imperialism,
concessions and privileges in China, moderated through diplomacy. The
government acted to modernize the legal and penal systems, attempted
to stabilize prices, amortize debts, reform the banking and currency
systems, build railroads and highways, improve public health
facilities, legislate against traffic in narcotics, and augment
industrial and agricultural production. Not all of these projects were
successfully completed. Efforts were made towards improving education
standards; and, in an effort to unify Chinese society, the New Life
Movement was launched to encourage Confucian moral values and personal
discipline. Guoyu ("national language") was promoted as a standard
tongue, and the establishment of communications facilities (including
radio) were used to encourage a sense of
Chinese nationalismChinese nationalism in a way
that was not possible when the nation lacked an effective central
government.
Any successes that the Nationalists did make, however, were met with
constant political and military upheavals. While much of the urban
areas were now under the control of the KMT, much of the countryside
remained under the influence of weakened yet undefeated warlords and
Communists. Chiang often resolved issues of warlord obstinacy through
military action, but such action was costly in terms of men and
material. The 1930
Central Plains WarCentral Plains War alone nearly bankrupted the
Nationalist governmentNationalist government and caused almost 250,000 casualties on both
sides. In 1931, Hu Hanmin, Chiang's old supporter, publicly voiced a
popular concern that Chiang's position as both premier and president
flew in the face of the democratic ideals of the Nationalist
government. Chiang had Hu put under house arrest, but he was released
after national condemnation after which he left
NanjingNanjing and supported
a rival government in Kwangtung. The split resulted in a military
conflict between Hu's Kwangtung government and Chiang's Nationalist
government. Chiang only won the campaign against Hu after a shift in
allegiance by the warlord Zhang Xueliang, who had previously supported
Hu Hanmin.
Throughout his rule, complete eradication of the Communists remained
Chiang's dream. After assembling his forces in Kiangsi, Chiang led his
armies against the newly established Chinese Soviet Republic. With
help from foreign military advisers, Chiang's Fifth Campaign finally
surrounded the
Chinese Red ArmyChinese Red Army in 1934. The Communists, tipped off
that a Nationalist offensive was imminent, retreated in the Long
March, during which
Mao ZedongMao Zedong rose from a mere military official to
the most influential leader of the Communist Party of China.
Chiang, as a nationalist and a Confucianist, was against the
iconoclasm of the May Fourth Movement. Motivated by his sense of
nationalism, he viewed some Western ideas as foreign, and he believed
that the great introduction of Western ideas and literature that the
May Fourth MovementMay Fourth Movement promoted was not beneficial to China. He and Dr.
Sun criticized the May Fourth intellectuals as corrupting the morals
of China's youth.[37]
Contrary to Communist propaganda that Chiang was pro-capitalism,
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek antagonized the capitalists of Shanghai, often
attacking them and confiscating their capital and assets for the use
of the government. Chiang confiscated the wealth of capitalists even
while he denounced and fought against communists.[38] Chiang crushed
pro-communist worker and peasant organizations and rich Shanghai
capitalists at the same time. Chiang continued Dr. Sun Yat-sen's
anti-capitalist ideology, directing
KuomintangKuomintang media to openly attack
capitalists and capitalism, demanding government controlled industry
instead.[39]
Chiang has often been interpreted as being pro-capitalist, but this
conclusion may be problematic. Shanghai capitalists did briefly
support him out of fear of communism in 1927, but this support eroded
in 1928 when Chiang turned his tactics of intimidation on them. The
relationship between
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek and Chinese capitalists remained
poor throughout the period of his administration.[40] Chiang blocked
Chinese capitalists from gaining any political power or voice within
his regime. Once
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was done with his White Terror on
pro-communist laborers, he proceeded to turn on the capitalists.
Gangster connections allowed Chiang to attack them in the
International Settlement, successfully forcing capitalists to back him
up with their assets for his military expeditions.[40]
Chiang viewed Japan, America, the Soviet Union,
FranceFrance and Britain as
all being imperialists with nobody else's interests in mind but their
own, seeing them as hypocritical to condemn each other for imperialism
which they all practiced.[41][42] He manipulated America, Nazi
Germany, and the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union to regain lost territories for
ChinaChina as
he viewed all the powers as imperialists trying to curtail and
suppress China's power and national resurrection.[43]
Mass deaths under Nationalist rule[edit]
Some sources attribute
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek with millions of deaths[44][45]
for the scattered events of mass deaths caused by the Nationalist
Government of China. He is certainly partially responsible for the
1938 Yellow River flood which killed hundreds of thousands of Chinese
civilians in order to fend off a Japanese Advance.[46] This accusation
is usually sourced from
Rudolph RummelRudolph Rummel who was referring to the
Nationalist regime as whole rather than Chiang Kai-Shek in particular.
Regardless the
Nationalist governmentNationalist government of
ChinaChina has been accused of
mass killings by Rudolph Rummel, estimating the Nationalist government
of
ChinaChina is responsible for between 6 and 18.5 million deaths. He
attributes this death toll to a few major causes for example:[47]

1.3 million Chinese civilians starved or killed in order to fend off
communist advance
Hundreds of thousands (300,000[48]) of peasants and communist killed
in political repression.
1.75 to 2.5 million Chinese starving to death due to grain being
confiscated and sold to other peasants for the profit of Nationalist
Government officials.
4,212,000 Chinese perishing at the start of both the Civil War and the
Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese War due to starving to death or dying from
disease during horrific conscription campaigns.
440,000 to 893,000 Chinese civilians perishing in a man made flood by
the Nationalists to stop a Japanese advance.

First phase of the Chinese Civil War[edit]
In Nanjing, on April 1931,
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek attended a national
leadership conference with
Zhang XueliangZhang Xueliang and General Ma Fuxiang, in
which Chiang and Zhang dauntlessly upheld that
ManchuriaManchuria was part of
ChinaChina in the face of the Japanese invasion.[49] After the Japanese
invasion of
ManchuriaManchuria in 1931, Chiang resigned as Chairman of the
National Government. He returned shortly afterwards, adopting the
slogan "first internal pacification, then external resistance".
However, this policy of avoiding a frontal war against the Japanese
was widely unpopular. In 1932, while Chiang was seeking first to
defeat the Communists, Japan launched an advance on Shanghai and
bombarded Nanjing. This disrupted Chiang's offensives against the
Communists for a time, although it was the northern factions of Hu
Hanmin's Kwangtung government (notably the 19th Route Army) that
primarily led the offensive against the Japanese during this skirmish.
Brought into the Nationalist army immediately after the battle, the
19th Route Army's career under Chiang would be cut short after it was
disbanded for demonstrating socialist tendencies.
In December 1936, Chiang flew to
Xi'anXi'an to coordinate a major assault
on the Red Army and the Communist Republic that had retreated into
Yan'an. However, Chiang's allied commander Zhang Xueliang, whose
forces were used in his attack and whose homeland of
ManchuriaManchuria had
been recently invaded by the Japanese, did not support the attack on
the Communists. On December 12, Zhang and several other Nationalist
generals headed by Yang Hucheng of Shaanxi kidnapped Chiang for two
weeks in what is known as the
Xi'anXi'an Incident. They forced Chiang into
making a "Second United Front" with the Communists against Japan.
After releasing Chiang and returning to
NanjingNanjing with him, Zhang was
placed under house arrest and the generals who had assisted him were
executed. Chiang's commitment to the
Second United FrontSecond United Front was nominal
at best, and it was all but broken up in 1941.
Second Sino-Japanese War[edit]
The
Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese War broke out in July 1937, and in August of
that year Chiang sent 600,000 of his best-trained and equipped
soldiers to defend Shanghai. With over 200,000 Chinese casualties,
Chiang lost the political cream of his Whampoa-trained officers.
Though Chiang lost militarily, the battle dispelled Japanese claims
that it could conquer
ChinaChina in three months and demonstrated to the
Western powersWestern powers that the Chinese would continue the fight. By December,
the capital city of
NanjingNanjing had fallen to the Japanese resulting in
the Nanking Massacre. Chiang moved the government inland, first to
WuhanWuhan and later to Chongqing.
Having lost most of China's economic and industrial centers, Chiang
withdrew into the hinterlands, stretching the Japanese supply lines
and bogging down Japanese soldiers in the vast Chinese interior. As
part of a policy of protracted resistance, Chiang authorized the use
of scorched earth tactics, resulting in many civilian deaths. During
the Nationalists' retreat from Zhengzhou, the dams around the city
were deliberately destroyed by the Nationalist army in order to delay
the Japanese advance, killing 500,000 people in the subsequent 1938
Yellow River flood.
After heavy fighting, the Japanese occupied
WuhanWuhan in the fall of 1938
and the Nationalists retreated farther inland, to Chongqing. While en
route to Chongqing, the Nationalist army intentionally started the
"fire of Changsha", as a part of the scorched earth policy. The fire
destroyed much of the city, killed twenty thousand civilians, and left
hundreds of thousands of people homeless. Due to an organizational
error (it was claimed), the fire was begun without any warning to the
residents of the city. The Nationalists eventually blamed three local
commanders for the fire and executed them. Newspapers across China
blamed the fire on (non-KMT) arsonists, but the blaze contributed to a
nationwide loss of support for the KMT.[50]
In 1939 Muslim leaders
Isa Yusuf AlptekinIsa Yusuf Alptekin and Ma Fuliang were sent by
Chiang to several Middle eastern countries, including Egypt, Turkey,
and Syria, to gain support for the Chinese War against Japan, and to
express his support for Muslims.[51]
The Japanese, controlling the puppet-state of
ManchukuoManchukuo and much of
China's eastern seaboard, appointed
Wang JingweiWang Jingwei as a Quisling-ruler
of the occupied Chinese territories around Nanjing. Wang named himself
President of the Executive Yuan and Chairman of the National
Government (not the same 'National Government' as Chiang's), and led a
surprisingly large[quantify] minority of anti-Chiang/anti-Communist
Chinese against his old comrades. He died in 1944, within a year of
the end of World War II.
The Hui Muslim
XidaotangXidaotang sect pledged allegiance to the Kuomintang
after their rise to power and Hui Muslim General Bai Chongxi
acquainted Chiang Kaishek with the
XidaotangXidaotang jiaozhu Ma Mingren in
1941 in Chongqing.[52]
In 1942
GeneralissimoGeneralissimoChiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek went on tour in northwestern
ChinaChina in Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Qinghai, where he met
both Muslim Generals
Ma BuqingMa Buqing and Ma Bufang.[53] He also met the
Muslim Generals
Ma HongbinMa Hongbin and
Ma HongkuiMa Hongkui separately.
A border crisis erupted with
TibetTibet in 1942. Under orders from Chiang
Kai-shek,
Ma BufangMa Bufang repaired Yushu airport to prevent Tibetan
separatists from seeking independence.[citation needed] Chiang also
ordered
Ma BufangMa Bufang to put his Muslim soldiers on alert for an invasion
of
TibetTibet in 1942.[54]
Ma BufangMa Bufang complied and moved several thousand
troops to the border with Tibet.[55] Chiang also threatened the
TibetansTibetans with aerial bombardment if they worked with the Japanese. Ma
Bufang attacked the Tibetan Buddhist Tsang monastery in 1941.[56] He
also constantly attacked the Labrang monastery.[57]
With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the opening of the Pacific War,
ChinaChina became one of the Allied Powers. During and after World War II,
Chiang and his American-educated wife Soong Mei-ling, known in the
United StatesUnited States as "Madame Chiang", held the support of the United
States'
ChinaChina Lobby, which saw in them the hope of a Christian and
democratic China. Chiang was even named the Supreme Commander of
Allied forces in the
ChinaChina war zone. He was created a Knight Grand
Cross of the
Order of the BathOrder of the Bath by King George VI of the United Kingdom
in 1942.[58]
General Joseph Stilwell, an American military adviser to Chiang during
World War II, strongly criticized Chiang and his generals for what he
saw as their incompetence and corruption.[59] In 1944, the United
States Army Air Corps commenced
Operation MatterhornOperation Matterhorn in order to bomb
Japan's steel industry from bases to be constructed in mainland China.
This was meant to fulfill President Roosevelt's promise to Chiang
Kai-shek to begin bombing operations against Japan by November 1944.
However, Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates refused to take airbase
construction seriously until enough capital had been delivered to
permit embezzlement on a massive scale. Stilwell estimated that at
least half of the $100 million spent on construction of airbases
was embezzled by Nationalist party officials.[60]
Chiang played the Soviets and Americans against each other during the
war. He first told the Americans that they would be welcome in talks
between the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union and
ChinaChina then secretly told the Soviets that
the Americans were unimportant and that their opinions would not be
considered. Chiang also used American support and military power in
ChinaChina against the ambitions of the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union to dominate the talks,
stopping the Soviets from taking full advantage of the situation in
ChinaChina with the threat of American military action against the
Soviets.[61]
French Indochina[edit]
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, through General Stilwell,
privately made it clear that they preferred that the French not
reacquire
French IndochinaFrench Indochina (modern day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos)
after the war was over. Roosevelt offered Chiang control of all of
Indochina. It was said that Chiang replied: "Under no
circumstances!"[62]
After the war, 200,000 Chinese troops under General Lu Han were sent
by
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek to northern Indochina (north of the 16th parallel)
to accept the surrender of Japanese occupying forces there, and
remained in Indochina until 1946, when the French returned.[63][64]
The Chinese used the VNQDD, the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese
Kuomintang, to increase their influence in Indochina and to put
pressure on their opponents.[65]
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek threatened the French
with war in response to maneuvering by the French and Ho Chi Minh's
forces against each other, forcing them to come to a peace agreement.
In February 1946 he also forced the French to surrender all of their
concessions in
ChinaChina and to renounce their extraterritorial privileges
in exchange for the Chinese withdrawing from northern Indochina and
allowing French troops to reoccupy the region. Following France's
agreement to these demands, the withdrawal of Chinese troops began in
March 1946.[66][67][68][69]
Ryukyus[edit]
During the
Cairo ConferenceCairo Conference in 1943, Chiang said that Roosevelt asked
him whether
ChinaChina would like to claim the
Ryukyu IslandsRyukyu Islands from Japan in
addition to retaking Taiwan, the Pescadores, and Manchuria. Chiang
claims that he said he was in favor of an international presence on
the islands.[70] However, the U.S. became the sole protector of the
Ryukyus in 1945, and reverted it to the Japanese in 1972 while
securing US military presence there.
Second phase of the Chinese Civil War[edit]
Main articles:
Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil War and Chinese Communist Revolution
See also: Constitution of the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China and Republic of China
presidential election, 1948
Treatment and use of Japanese soldiers[edit]
In 1945, when Japan surrendered, Chiang's
ChongqingChongqing government was
ill-equipped and ill-prepared to reassert its authority in formerly
Japanese-occupied China, and it asked the Japanese to postpone their
surrender until
KuomintangKuomintang (KMT) authority could arrive to take over.
American troops and weapons soon bolstered
KMTKMT forces, allowing them
to reclaim cities. The countryside, however, remained largely under
Communist control.
For over a year after the Japanese surrender, rumors circulated
throughout
ChinaChina that the Japanese had entered into a secret agreement
with Chiang, in which the Japanese would assist the Nationalists in
fighting the Communists in exchange for the protection of Japanese
persons and property there. Many top nationalist generals, including
Chiang, had studied and trained in Japan before the Nationalists had
returned to the mainland in the 1920s, and maintained close personal
friendships with top Japanese officers. The Japanese general in charge
of all forces in China, General Yasuji Okamura, had personally trained
officers who later became generals in Chiang's staff. Reportedly,
General Okamura, before surrendering command of all Japanese military
forces in Nanjing, offered Chiang control of all 1.5 million
Japanese military and civilian support staff then present in China.
Reportedly, Chiang seriously considered accepting this offer, but
declined only in the knowledge that the
United StatesUnited States would certainly
be outraged by the gesture. Even so, armed Japanese troops remained in
ChinaChina well into 1947, with some noncommissioned officers finding their
way into the Nationalist officer corps.[71] That the Japanese in China
came to regard Chiang as a magnanimous figure to whom many Japanese
owed their lives and livelihoods was a fact attested by both
Nationalist and Communist sources.[72]
Conditions during the Chinese Civil War[edit]
Westad says the Communists won the Civil War because they made fewer
military mistakes than Chiang Kai-Shek, and because in his search for
a powerful centralized government, Chiang antagonized too many
interest groups in China. Furthermore, his party was weakened in the
war against Japan. Meanwhile, the Communists told different groups,
such as peasants, exactly what they wanted to hear, and cloaked
themselves in the cover of Chinese Nationalism.[73]
Following the war, the
United StatesUnited States encouraged peace talks between
Chiang and Communist leader
Mao ZedongMao Zedong in Chongqing. Due to concerns
about widespread and well-documented corruption in Chiang's government
throughout his rule, the U.S. government limited aid to Chiang for
much of the period of 1946 to 1948, in the midst of fighting against
the
People's Liberation ArmyPeople's Liberation Army led by Mao Zedong. Alleged infiltration
of the U.S. government by Chinese Communist agents may have also
played a role in the suspension of American aid.[74]
Chiang's right-hand man, the secret police Chief Dai Li, was both
anti-American and anti-Communist.[75] Dai ordered
KuomintangKuomintang agents to
spy on American officers.[76] Earlier, Dai had been involved with the
Blue Shirts Society, a fascist-inspired paramilitary group within the
Kuomintang, which wanted to expel Western and Japanese imperialists,
crush the Communists, and eliminate feudalism.[77]
Dai LiDai Li died in a
plane crash, which was suspected to be an assassination orchestrated
by Chiang.[78]
Though Chiang had achieved status abroad as a world leader, his
government deteriorated as the result of corruption and inflation. In
his diary on June 1948, Chiang wrote that the
KMTKMT had failed, not
because of external enemies but because of rot from within.[79] The
war had severely weakened the Nationalists, while the Communists were
strengthened by their popular land-reform policies,[80] and by a rural
population that supported and trusted them. The Nationalists initially
had superiority in arms and men, but their lack of popularity,
infiltration by Communist agents, low morale, and disorganization soon
allowed the Communists to gain the upper hand in the civil war.
Competition with Li Zongren[edit]
A new Constitution was promulgated in 1947, and Chiang was elected by
the National Assembly as the first term President of the Republic of
ChinaChina on 20 May 1948. This marked the beginning of what was termed the
"democratic constitutional government" period by the
KMTKMT political
orthodoxy, but the Communists refused to recognize the new
Constitution, and its government, as legitimate. Chiang resigned as
President on 21 January 1949, as
KMTKMT forces suffered terrible losses
and defections to the Communists. After Chiang's resignation the
vice-president of the ROC, Li Zongren, became China's acting
president.
Shortly after Chiang's resignation the Communists halted their
advances and attempted to negotiate the virtual surrender of the ROC.
Li attempted to negotiate milder terms that would have ended the civil
war, but without success. When it became clear that Li was unlikely to
accept Mao's terms, the Communists issued an ultimatum in April 1949,
warning that they would resume their attacks if Li did not agree
within five days. Li refused.[81]
Li's attempts to carry out his policies faced varying degrees of
opposition from Chiang's supporters, and were generally unsuccessful.
Chiang especially antagonized Li by taking possession of (and moving
to Taiwan) US$200 million of gold and US dollars belonging to the
central government that Li desperately needed to cover the
government's soaring expenses. When the Communists captured the
Nationalist capital of
NanjingNanjing in April 1949, Li refused to accompany
the central government as it fled to Guangdong, instead expressing his
dissatisfaction with Chiang by retiring to Guangxi.[82]
The former warlord Yan Xishan, who had fled to
NanjingNanjing only one month
before, quickly insinuated himself within the Li-Chiang rivalry,
attempting to have Li and Chiang reconcile their differences in the
effort to resist the Communists. At Chiang's request Yan visited Li in
order to convince Li not to withdraw from public life. Yan broke down
in tears while talking of the loss of his home province of Shanxi to
the Communists, and warned Li that the Nationalist cause was doomed
unless Li went to Kwangtung. Li agreed to return under the condition
that Chiang surrender most of the gold and US dollars in his
possession that belonged to the central government, and that Chiang
stop overriding Li's authority. After Yan communicated these demands
and Chiang agreed to comply with them, Li departed for Guangdong.[82]
In Guangdong, Li attempted to create a new government composed of both
Chiang supporters and those opposed to Chiang. Li's first choice of
premier was Chu Cheng, a veteran member of the
KuomintangKuomintang who had been
virtually driven into exile due to his strong opposition to Chiang.
After the
Legislative YuanLegislative Yuan rejected Chu, Li was obliged to choose Yan
Xishan instead. By this time Yan was well known for his adaptability
and Chiang welcomed his appointment.[82]
Conflict between Chiang and Li persisted. Although he had agreed to do
so as a prerequisite of Li's return, Chiang refused to surrender more
than a fraction of the wealth that he had sent to Taiwan. Without
being backed by gold or foreign currency, the money issued by Li and
Yan quickly declined in value until it became virtually worthless.[83]
Although he did not hold a formal executive position in the
government, Chiang continued to issue orders to the army, and many
officers continued to obey Chiang rather than Li. The inability of Li
to coordinate
KMTKMT military forces led him to put into effect a plan of
defense that he had contemplated in 1948. Instead of attempting to
defend all of southern China, Li ordered what remained of the
Nationalist armies to withdraw to
GuangxiGuangxi and Guangdong, hoping that
he could concentrate all available defenses on this smaller, and more
easily defensible, area. The object of Li's strategy was to maintain a
foothold on the Chinese mainland in the hope that the United States
would eventually be compelled to enter the war in
ChinaChina on the
Nationalist side.[83]
Final Communist advance[edit]
Chiang opposed Li's plan of defense because it would have placed most
of the troops still loyal to Chiang under the control of Li and
Chiang's other opponents in the central government. To overcome
Chiang's intransigence Li began ousting Chiang's supporters within the
central government.
Yan XishanYan Xishan continued in his attempts to work with
both sides, creating the impression among Li's supporters that he was
a "stooge" of Chiang, while those who supported Chiang began to
bitterly resent Yan for his willingness to work with Li. Because of
the rivalry between Chiang and Li, Chiang refused to allow Nationalist
troops loyal to him to aid in the defense of Kwangsi and Canton, with
the result that Communist forces occupied Canton in October 1949.[84]
After Canton fell to the Communists, Chiang relocated the government
to Chungking, while Li effectively surrendered his powers and flew to
New York for treatment of his chronic duodenum illness at the Hospital
of Columbia University. Li visited the President of the United States,
Harry S. Truman, and denounced Chiang as a dictator and an usurper. Li
vowed that he would "return to crush" Chiang once he returned to
China. Li remained in exile, and did not return to Taiwan.[85]
In the early morning of 10 December 1949, Communist troops laid siege
to Chengtu, the last KMT-controlled city in mainland China, where
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek and his son
Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo directed the defense at
the Chengtu Central Military Academy. Chiang Kai-shek, father and son,
sang the Republic of China's national anthem while leaving the Academy
all the way to the airfield.[citation needed] The aircraft May-ling
evacuated them to
TaiwanTaiwan on the same day.
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek would never
return to the mainland.
Chiang did not re-assume the presidency until 1 March 1950. On January
1952, Chiang commanded the Control Yuan, now in Taiwan, to impeach Li
in the "Case of Li Zongren's Failure to carry out Duties due to
Illegal Conduct" (李宗仁違法失職案). Chiang relieved Li of the
position as vice-president in the National Assembly on March 1954.
On Taiwan[edit]
Main articles:
TaiwanTaiwan after
World War IIWorld War II and Project National Glory
See also:
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China Armed Forces and White Terror (Taiwan)
Preparations to retake the mainland[edit]
Chiang moved the government to Taipei, Taiwan, where he resumed his
duties as
President of the Republic of ChinaPresident of the Republic of China on 1 March 1950.[86]
Chiang was reelected by the National Assembly to be the President of
the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China (ROC) on 20 May 1954, and again in 1960, 1966,
and 1972. He continued to claim sovereignty over all of China,
including the territories held by his government and the People's
Republic, as well as territory the latter ceded to foreign
governments, such as
TuvaTuva and Outer Mongolia. In the context of the
Cold War, most of the Western world recognized this position and the
ROC represented
ChinaChina in the United Nations and other international
organizations until the 1970s.
During his presidency on Taiwan, Chiang continued making preparations
in order to take back mainland China. He developed the ROC army in
order to prepare for an invasion of the mainland, and to defend Taiwan
in case of an attack by the Communist forces. He also financed armed
groups in mainland China, such as Muslim soldiers of the ROC Army left
in
YunnanYunnan under Li Mi, who continued to fight. It was not until the
1980s that these troops were finally airlifted to Taiwan.[87] He
promoted the Uyghur
Yulbars KhanYulbars Khan to Governor during the Islamic
insurgency on the mainland for resisting the Communists, even though
the government had already evacuated to Taiwan.[88] He planned an
invasion of the mainland in 1962.[89] In the 1950s Chiang's airplanes
dropped supplies to
KuomintangKuomintang Muslim insurgents in Amdo.[90]
Regime[edit]
Despite the democratic constitution, the government under Chiang was a
one-party state, consisting almost completely of mainlanders; the
"Temporary Provisions Effective During the Period of Communist
Rebellion" greatly enhanced executive powers, and the goal of retaking
mainland
ChinaChina allowed the
KMTKMT to maintain a monopoly on power and the
prohibition of opposition parties. The government's official line for
these martial law provisions stemmed from the claim that emergency
provisions were necessary, since the Communists and
KMTKMT were still in
a state of war. Seeking to promote Chinese nationalism, Chiang's
government actively ignored and suppressed local cultural expression,
even forbidding the use of local languages in mass media broadcasts or
during class sessions.
The first decades after the Nationalists moved the seat of government
to the province of
TaiwanTaiwan are associated with the organized effort to
resist
CommunismCommunism known as the "White Terror", during which about
140,000 Taiwanese were imprisoned for their real or perceived
opposition to the Kuomintang. Most of those prosecuted were labeled by
the
KuomintangKuomintang as "bandit spies" (匪諜), meaning spies for Chinese
Communists, and punished as such.
Under Chiang, the government recognized limited civil and economic
freedoms, property rights (personal[citation needed] and intellectual)
and other liberties. Despite these restrictions, free debate within
the confines of the legislature was permitted. Under the pretext that
new elections could not be held in Communist-occupied constituencies,
the National Assembly, Legislative Yuan, and
Control YuanControl Yuan members held
their posts indefinitely. The Temporary Provisions also allowed Chiang
to remain as president beyond the two-term limit in the Constitution.
He was reelected by the National Assembly as president four
times—doing so in 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972.
Believing that corruption and a lack of morals were key reasons that
the
KMTKMT lost mainland
ChinaChina to the Communists, Chiang attempted to
purge corruption by dismissing members of the
KMTKMT accused of graft.
Some major figures in the previous mainland Chinese government, such
as
H. H. KungH. H. Kung and T. V. Soong, exiled themselves to the United States.
Though politically authoritarian and, to some extent, dominated by
government-owned industries, Chiang's new Taiwanese state also
encouraged economic development, especially in the export sector. A
popular sweeping Land Reform Act, as well as American foreign aid
during the 1950s, laid the foundation for Taiwan's economic success,
becoming one of the Four Asian Tigers.
After Chiang's death, the next president, Chiang's son, Chiang
Ching-kuo, and Chiang Ching-kuo's successor,
Lee Teng-huiLee Teng-hui a native
Taiwanese, would, in the 1980s and 1990s, increase native Taiwanese
representation in the government and loosen the many authoritarian
controls of the early era of ROC control in Taiwan.
Relationship with Japan[edit]
In 1971, the Australian Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam, who became
Prime Minister in 1972 and swiftly relocated the Australian mission
from
TaipeiTaipei to Beijing, visited Japan. After meeting with the Japanese
Prime Minister, Eisaku Sato, Whitlam observed that the reason Japan at
that time was hesitant to withdraw recognition from the Nationalist
government was "the presence of a treaty between the Japanese
government and that of Chiang Kai-shek". Sato explained that the
continued recognition of Japan towards the
Nationalist governmentNationalist government was
due largely to the personal relationship that various members of the
Japanese government felt towards Chiang. This relationship was rooted
largely in the generous and lenient treatment of Japanese
prisoners-of-war by the
Nationalist governmentNationalist government in the years
immediately following the Japanese surrender in 1945, and was felt
especially strongly as a bond of personal obligation by the most
senior members then in power.[91]
Although Japan recognized the People's Republic in 1972, shortly after
Kakuei TanakaKakuei Tanaka succeeded Sato as Prime Minister of Japan, the memory of
this relationship was strong enough to be reported by The New York
Times (15 April 1978) as a significant factor inhibiting trade between
Japan and the mainland. There is speculation that a clash between
Communist forces and a Japanese warship in 1978 was caused by Chinese
anger after Prime Minister
Takeo FukudaTakeo Fukuda attended Chiang's funeral.
Historically, Japanese attempts to normalize their relationship with
the People's Republic were met with accusations of ingratitude in
Taiwan.[91]
Relationship with the United States[edit]
Chiang was suspicious that covert operatives of the United States
plotted a coup against him. In 1950,
Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo became director
of the secret police (Bureau of Investigation and Statistics), which
he remained until 1965. Chiang was also suspicious of politicians who
were overly friendly to the United States, and considered them his
enemies. In 1953, seven days after surviving an assassination attempt,
Wu Kuo-chenWu Kuo-chen lost his position as governor of
Taiwan ProvinceTaiwan Province to Chiang
Ching-kuo. After fleeing to
United StatesUnited States the same year, he became a
vocal critic of Chiang's family and government.[92]
Chiang Ching-kuo, educated in the Soviet Union, initiated Soviet-style
military organization in the
Republic of ChinaRepublic of China Military. He
reorganized and
Sovietized the political officer corps, and propagated
KuomintangKuomintang ideology throughout the military. Sun Li-jen, who was
educated at the American Virginia Military Institute, was opposed to
this.[93]
Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo orchestrated the controversial court-martial and
arrest of General
Sun Li-jenSun Li-jen in August 1955, for plotting a coup
d'état with the American
Central Intelligence AgencyCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) against
his father
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang. The CIA allegedly
wanted to help Sun take control of
TaiwanTaiwan and declare its
independence.[92][94]
Death[edit]
See also: Cihu Mausoleum
In 1975, 26 years after Chiang came to Taiwan, he died in
TaipeiTaipei at
the age of 87. He had suffered a heart attack and pneumonia in the
foregoing months and died from renal failure aggravated with advanced
cardiac malfunction on April 5.
A month of mourning was declared. Chinese music composer Hwang Yau-tai
wrote the
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek Memorial Song. In mainland China, however,
Chiang's death was met with little apparent mourning and Communist
state-run newspapers gave the brief headline "
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek Has
Died." Chiang's body was put in a copper coffin and temporarily
interred at his favorite residence in Cihu, Daxi, Taoyuan. When his
son
Chiang Ching-kuoChiang Ching-kuo died in 1988, he was entombed in a separate
mausoleum in nearby Touliao (頭寮). The hope was to have both buried
at their birthplace in
FenghuaFenghua if and when it was possible. In 2004,
Chiang Fang-liang, the widow of Chiang Ching-kuo, asked that both
father and son be buried at
Wuzhi Mountain Military CemeteryWuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery in Xizhi,
TaipeiTaipei County (now New
TaipeiTaipei City). Chiang's ultimate funeral
ceremony became a political battle between the wishes of the state and
the wishes of his family.
Chiang was succeeded as President by Vice President
Yen Chia-kanYen Chia-kan and
as
KuomintangKuomintang party ruler by his son Chiang Ching-kuo, who retired
Chiang Kai-shek's title of Director-General and instead assumed the
position of Chairman. Yen's presidency was interim; Chiang Ching-kuo,
who was the Premier, became President after Yen's term ended three
years later.

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Chiang's portrait hung over
TiananmenTiananmen Square before Mao's portrait was
set up in its place.[95] People also put portraits of Chiang in their
homes and in public on the streets.[96][97][98]
Chiang was popular among many people and dressed in plain, simple
clothes, unlike contemporary Chinese warlords who dressed
extravagantly.[99]
Quotes from the
QuranQuran and
HadithHadith were used by Muslims in the
Kuomintang-controlled Muslim publication, the Yuehua, to justify
Chiang Kai-shek's rule over China.[100]
When the Muslim General and Warlord Ma Lin was interviewed, Ma Lin was
described as having "high admiration for and unwavering loyalty to
Chiang Kai-shek".[101]
In the Philippines, a school was named in his honor in 1939. Today,
Chiang Kai Shek College is the largest educational institution for the
Chinoy community in the country.
Philosophy[edit]

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Chiang's legacy has been the target of heated debates because of the
different views held about him. For some, Chiang was a national hero
who led the victorious
Northern ExpeditionNorthern Expedition against the Beiyang
Warlords in 1927, achieving Chinese unification, and who subsequently
led
ChinaChina to ultimate victory against Japan in 1945. Some blamed him
for not doing enough against the Japanese forces in the lead-up to,
and during, the Second Sino-Japanese War, preferring to withhold his
armies for the fight against the Communists, or merely waiting and
hoping that the
United StatesUnited States would get involved. Some also see him as
a champion of anti-Communism, being a key figure during the formative
years of the World Anti-Communist League. During the Cold War, he was
also seen as the leader who led Free
ChinaChina and the bulwark against a
possible Communist invasion. However, Chiang presided over purges,
political authoritarianism, and graft during his tenure in mainland
China, and ruled throughout a period of imposed martial law. His
governments were accused of being corrupt even before he even took
power in 1928. He also allied with known criminals like Du Yuesheng
for political and financial gains. Some opponents charge that Chiang's
efforts in developing
TaiwanTaiwan were mostly to make the island a strong
base from which to one day return to mainland China, and that Chiang
had little regard for the long-term prosperity and well-being of the
Taiwanese people.
Today, Chiang's popularity in
TaiwanTaiwan is divided along political lines,
enjoying greater support among
KuomintangKuomintang (KMT) supporters. He is
generally unpopular among
Democratic Progressive PartyDemocratic Progressive Party (DPP) voters
and supporters who blame him for the thousands killed during the
February 28 IncidentFebruary 28 Incident and criticise his subsequent dictatorial
rule.[110] In sharp contrast to his son, Chiang Ching-kuo, and to Sun
Yat-sen, his memory is rarely invoked by current political parties,
including the Kuomintang. In contrast, his image has been
rehabilitated in contemporary Mainland China. Until recently portrayed
as a villain who fought against the "liberation" of
ChinaChina by the
Communists, since the 2000s, he has been portrayed by the media in a
neutral or slightly positive light as a Chinese nationalist who tried
to bring about national unification and resisted the Japanese invasion
during World War II. This shift is largely in response to current
political landscape of Taiwan, in relation to Chiang's commitment to a
unified
ChinaChina and his stance against Taiwanese separatism during his
rule of the island, along with the recent détente between the
Communist Party of ChinaCommunist Party of China (CPC) and Chiang's KMT.[111] In contrast to
efforts to remove his public monuments in Taiwan, his ancestral home
in Fenghua,
ZhejiangZhejiang on the Mainland has become a commemorative museum
and major tourist attraction.[112]
In the
United StatesUnited States and Europe, Chiang was often perceived negatively
as the one who lost
ChinaChina to the Communists. His constant demands for
Western support and funding also earned him the nickname of "General
Cash-My-Check". In the West he has been criticized for his poor
military skills. He had a record of issuing unrealistic orders and
persistently attempting to fight unwinnable battles, leading to the
loss of his best troops.[113]
In recent years, there has been an attempt to find a more moderate
interpretation of Chiang. Chiang is now increasingly perceived as a
man simply overwhelmed by the events in China, having to fight
simultaneously Communists, Japanese, and provincial warlords while
having to reconstruct and unify the country. His sincere, albeit often
unsuccessful attempts to build a more powerful nation have been noted
by scholars such as
Jonathan Fenby and Rana Mitter. Mitter has
observed that, ironically, today's
ChinaChina is closer to Chiang's vision
than to Mao Zedong's. He argues that the Communists, since the 1980s,
have essentially created the state envisioned by Chiang in the 1930s.
Mitter concludes by writing that "one can imagine Chiang Kai-shek's
ghost wandering round
ChinaChina today nodding in approval, while Mao's
ghost follows behind him, moaning at the destruction of his
vision".[114]
Liang ShumingLiang Shuming opined that Chiang Kai-shek's "greatest
contribution was to make the CCP successful. If he had been a bit more
trustworthy, if his character was somewhat better, the CCP would have
been unable to beat him".[115]
Formosa Betrayed, one of the few American movies concerning the
process of democratization in Taiwan, depicts
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek as a
brutal dictator, responsible for the execution of thousands of native
Taiwanese during the days following the February 28 Incident.
Family[edit]
Wives[edit]

Mao FumeiMao Fumei (毛福梅, 1882–1939), who died in the Second
Sino-Japanese War during a bombardment, is the mother to his son and
successor Chiang Ching-kuo

Chen JieruChen Jieru (陳潔如, "Jennie", 1906–1971), who lived in Shanghai,
but moved to Hong Kong later and died there

Soong Mei-lingSoong Mei-ling (宋美齡, 1898–2003), who moved to the United
States after Chiang Kai-shek's death, is arguably his most famous wife
even though they had no children together

In an arranged marriage, Chiang was married to a fellow villager named
Mao Fumei. While married to Mao, Chiang adopted two concubines
(concubinage was still a common practice for well-to-do, non-Christian
males in China): he married
Yao YechengYao Yecheng (姚冶誠, 1889–1972) in
1912 and
Chen JieruChen Jieru (陳潔如, 1906–1971) in December 1921. While
he was still living in Shanghai, Chiang and Yao adopted a son,
Wei-kuo. Chen adopted a daughter in 1924, named Yaoguang (瑤光), who
later adopted her mother's surname. Chen's autobiography refuted the
idea that she was a concubine.[116] Chen claiming that, by the time
she married Chiang, he had already divorced Yao, and that Chen was
therefore his wife. Chiang and Mao had a son, Ching-kuo.
According to the memoirs of Chen Jieru, Chiang's second wife, she
contracted gonorrhea from Chiang soon after their marriage. He told
her that he acquired this disease after separating from his first wife
and living with his concubine Yao Yecheng, as well as with many other
women he consorted with. His doctor explained to her that Chiang had
sex with her before completing his treatment for the disease. As a
result, both Chiang and Ch'en Chieh-ju believed they had become
sterile, which would explain why he had only one child, by his first
wife; however, a purported miscarriage by
Soong Mei-lingSoong Mei-ling in August
1928 would, if it actually occurred, cast serious doubt on whether
this was true.[30][117]
Family tree[edit]
The Xikou (Chikow) Chiangs were descended from Chiang Shih-chieh who
during the 1600s (17th century) moved there from
FenghuaFenghua district,
whose ancestors in turn came to southeastern China's Zhejiang
(Chekiang) province after moving out of Northern
ChinaChina in the 13th
century AD. The 12th century BC Duke of Zhou's (Duke of Chou) third
son was the ancestors of the Chiangs.[118][119][120][121][122][123]
His great grandfather was Chiang Qi-zeng (Jiang Qizeng) 蒋祈增, his
grandfather was
Chiang Si-qian 蒋斯千, his uncle was Chiang
Zhao-hai 蔣肇海, and his father was Chiang Zhao-cong (Jiang
Zhaocong) 蔣肇聰.[124][125]

Chiang personally dealt extensively with religions and power figures
in
ChinaChina during his regime.
Religious views[edit]
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a Methodist.[2]
Relationship with Muslims[edit]
Chiang developed relationships with other generals. Chiang became a
sworn brother of the Muslim general
Ma FuxiangMa Fuxiang and appointed him to
high ranking positions. Chiang addressed Ma Fuxiang's son Ma Hongkui
as Shao Yun Shixiong[126]
Ma FuxiangMa Fuxiang attended national leadership
conferences with Chiang during battles against Japan.[127] Ma Hongkui
was eventually scapegoated for the failure of the
NingxiaNingxia Campaign
against the Communists, so he moved to the US instead of remaining in
TaiwanTaiwan with Chiang.
When Chiang became President of
ChinaChina after the Northern Expedition,
he carved out
NingxiaNingxia and
QinghaiQinghai out of Gansu province, and appointed
Muslim generals as military governors of all three provinces: Ma
Hongkui, Ma Hongbin, and Ma Qi. The three Muslim governors, known as
Xibei San MaXibei San Ma (lit. "the three Mas of the Northwest"), controlled
armies composed entirely of Muslims. Chiang called on the three and
their suboordinates to wage war against the Soviet peoples, Tibetans,
Communists, and the Japanese. Chiang continued to appoint Muslims as
governors of the three provinces, including Ma Lin and Ma Fushou.
Chiang's appointments, the first time that Muslims had been appointed
as governors of Gansu, increased the prestige of Muslim officials in
northwestern China. The armies raised by this "Ma Clique", most
notably their Muslim cavalry, were incorporated into the
KMTKMT army.
Chiang appointed a Muslim general, Bai Chongxi, as the Minister of
National Defence of the Republic of China, which controlled the ROC
military.
Chiang also supported the Muslim General Ma Zhongying, whom he had
trained at
Whampoa Military AcademyWhampoa Military Academy during the Kumul Rebellion, in a
JihadJihad against Jin Shuren, Sheng Shicai, and the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union during
the Soviet Invasion of Xinjiang. Chiang designated Ma's Muslim army as
the
36th Division (National Revolutionary Army)36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) and gave his troops
KuomintangKuomintang flags and uniforms. Chiang then supported Muslim General Ma
Hushan against
Sheng ShicaiSheng Shicai and the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union in the
XinjiangXinjiang War
(1937). All Muslim generals commissioned by Chiang in the National
Revolutionary Army swore allegiance to him. Several, like Ma Shaowu
and Ma Hushan were loyal to Chiang and
KuomintangKuomintang hardliners.
The
Ili Rebellion and
Pei-ta-shan IncidentPei-ta-shan Incident plagued relations with the
Soviet UnionSoviet Union during Chiang's rule and caused trouble with the Uyghurs.
During the
Ili Rebellion and Peitashan incident, Chiang deployed Hui
troops against Uyghur mobs in Turfan, and against Soviet Russian and
Mongols at Peitashan.
During Chiang's rule, attacks on foreigners by
KuomintangKuomintang forces
flared up in several incidents. One of these was the Battle of Kashgar
(1934) where a Muslim army loyal to the
KuomintangKuomintang massacred 4,500
Uyghurs, and killed several British at the British consulate in
Kashgar. The British were unable to retaliate.
Hu Songshan, a Muslim Imam, backed Chiang Kai-shek's regime and gave
prayers for his government. ROC flags were saluted by Muslims in
NingxiaNingxia during prayer along with exhortations to nationalism during
Chiang's rule. Chiang sent Muslim students abroad to study at places
like
Al AzharAl Azhar and Muslim schools throughout
ChinaChina taught loyalty to
his regime.
The Yuehua, a Chinese Muslim publication, quoted the
QuranQuran and Hadith
to justify submitting to
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek as the leader of China, and
as justification for
JihadJihad in the war against Japan.[128]
The
Yihewani (Ikhwan al Muslimun a.k.a. Muslim brotherhood) was the
predominant Muslim sect backed by the Chiang government during
Chiang's regime. Other Muslim sects, like the
XidaotangXidaotang and Sufi
brotherhoods like Jahriyya and Khuffiya were also supported by his
regime. The Chinese Muslim Association, a pro-
KuomintangKuomintang and
anti-Communist organization, was set up by Muslims working in his
regime.
SalafismSalafism attempted to gain a foothold in
ChinaChina during his
regime, but the
Yihewani and Hanafi Sunni
GedimuGedimu denounced the Salafis
as radicals, engaged in fights against them, and declared them
heretics, forcing the Salafis to form a separate
sect.[129][130][131][132] Ma Ching-chiang, a Muslim General, served as
an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.
Ma BuqingMa Buqing was another Muslim General
who fled to
TaiwanTaiwan along with Chiang. His government donated money to
build the
TaipeiTaipei Grand Mosque on Taiwan.[133]
Relationship with Buddhists and Christians[edit]
Chiang had uneasy relations with the Tibetans. He fought against them
in the Sino-Tibetan War, and he supported the Muslim General Ma Bufang
in his war against Tibetan rebels in Qinghai. Chiang ordered Ma Bufang
to prepare his Islamic army to invade
TibetTibet several times, to deter
Tibetan independence, and threatened them with aerial
bombardment.[citation needed] After the war, Chiang appointed Ma
Bufang as ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Chiang incorporated
MethodistMethodist values into the
New Life MovementNew Life Movement under
the influence of his wife. Dancing and Western music were discouraged.
In one incident, several youths splashed acid on people wearing
Western clothing, although Chiang was not directly responsible for
these incidents. Despite being a Methodist, he made reference to the
BuddhaBuddha in his diary, and encouraged the establishment of a Buddhist
political party under Master Taixu.
According to
Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses some of their members travelled to
ChonqqingChonqqing and spoke to him personally while distributing their
literature there during the Second World War.[134]
Honours[edit]

Order of National Glory
Order of Blue Sky and White Sun, 1st class
Order of the Sacred Tripod
Order of Brilliant Jade
Order of Propitious Clouds
Order of the Cloud and Banner
Order of Brilliant Star
Honour Sabre of the Awakened Lion

Chen Qimei, Chiang's Zhejiangese mentor, who introduced him to the
Tongmenghui, but was assassinated at Yuan Shikai's behest in 1916

The SS Yongfeng (later Zhongshan), where Chiang watched after Sun
Yat-sen for two months in 1923 and which was later responsible for the
1926
Canton CoupCanton Coup that propelled Chiang to leadership of the KMT

Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen and Chiang at the 1924 opening ceremonies for the
Soviet-funded Whampoa Military Academy

Chiang with Wang Jingwei, with whom he vied for control of the KMT
following Sun Yat-sen's death

Chiang with Mikhail Borodin, a prominent Soviet advisor to the
KMTKMT and
its NRA

A rock carving at
KinmenKinmen in Chiang's hand, reading "Forget Not that
You are in Ju", intended as a commentary on the Chinese republic's
position relative to mainland China, which alludes to Qi's successful
reconquest of its land despite having been forced into the single city
of Ju by Yan during China's Warring States period